Case summaries

These short, anonymised stories show the profound impact that failures in public services can have on the lives of individuals and their families.

Please note we have not published any new case summaries on this page since 2015. In April 2021 we began publishing our casework decision statements and investigation reports on our decisions portal.

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Appeal took two and a half years to be properly heard, but HMCTS had already apologised for this

Summary 754 | February 2015

Ms B complained that errors by HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) caused delays in her child support appeal hearing being heard. She said she wasted legal fees; had to represent herself at important hearings; and was without child support payments from her ex–partner for longer than she should have been.

Failings in the way the Legal Aid Agency handled an application for legal aid

Summary 753 | February 2015

The Agency wrongly assessed an applicant's eligibility for legal aid on two occasions, and caused him to pay fees that should have been publicly funded.

Highways Agency was not responsible for flooding

Summary 752 | February 2015

Mr J thought the Highways Agency's road improvements had caused significant flooding to his land. He first asked the Agency to look into his complaint, and then went to the Independent Complaints Assessor (ICA), which deals with complaints about the Department for Transport and its agencies.

HMCTS's policy on issuing guidance leaflets for getting transcripts of previous court hearings

Summary 751 | February 2015

Mr F complained about HM Courts & Tribunals Service's (HMCTS's) policy on issuing guidance leaflets to its customers, and about the information it gave him when it responded to his complaint.

HMCTS did not cause unnecessary bailiff visit

Summary 750 | February 2015

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) court staff acted reasonably when issuing a certificate of judgment (an order to enforce a judgment). Some of HMCTS's correspondence handling could have been better; however it took satisfactory steps to put this right.

HMRC failed to help customer get his tax right

Summary 749 | February 2015

Mr T complained that it took HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) too long to sort out his tax affairs. He also said that the Adjudicator's investigation of his complaint did not put things right.

Cafcass failed to explain how information about a woman's son would be used before sharing it with her ex–husband

Summary 748 | February 2015

Ms D complained about the conduct of an adviser from the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) who, she claimed, wrongly shared information with her ex–husband, and so breached Ms D's data protection rights.

Border Force put in place reasonable measures to deal with IT fault affecting airport

Summary 747 | February 2015

Mr A said he waited two and a half hours to pass airport immigration control when he arrived in the UK because of a fault with Border Force's IT systems.

Cafcass was not helpful when arranging an interview

Summary 746 | February 2015

Mr J complained that a Cafcass (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) officer interviewed his ex–partner at her home but did not visit him.

Court failed to record the hearing of a case

Summary 745 | February 2015

Claimant in a court case wanted to know why the judge found in favour of the defendant, but discovered the court had failed to record the hearing. The claimant would never know the reason for the judge's decision.